Numerous types of wireless communication devices are used throughout the world each day, including devices such as cellular phones, pagers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and vehicle communication devices. Many of these devices use one or more types of communication channels, including voice and data channels, to provide a variety of services over wireless networks. Some devices utilize data encoding techniques to communicate both voice and data information over a voice channel, while other devices must use a data channel to send data information.
The short message service (SMS) provides communication of short text messages between different wireless communications devices, most commonly mobile phones. SMS messaging embodies a number of desirable attributes that have made it quite a popular form of communicating, including attributes pertaining to its speed and its privacy. Notwithstanding these positive characteristics, there are still instances where users of SMS messages can be subjected to the nefarious actions of third parties. Thus, it can be desirable to enhance certain security aspects of SMS messages.